This week’s Time Capsule looks at a Confederate veteran, an Atherton’s victim, Studebakers, SPSU dorms, a walkway at Cumberland mall and Lester Maddox.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Dec. 12, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that E.P. Dobbs had been elected Mayor for the next two years during the primary election. Dobbs beat his opponent Joe M. Austin by 126 votes.

Also that week it was reported that after only a week of illness, Rev. Elam Christian died the Tuesday before. Rev. Christian had been in delicate health for years after being seriously wounded in the first volley fired at the first battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 at the age of 19. After Manassas, he became a drill master of Southern troops at Kennesaw and was there when Northern soldiers stole the “General” and ran away with a W&A freight train. He was a local Methodist minister, but not a member of a conference, and the editor of various papers in cities and towns in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina.

50 years ago …

In the Friday, Dec. 6, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal, it was reported that Seventh District Congressman John Davis called for an end to regional differences in the country and said the surest way to accomplish that goal was to “wipe out hatred and misunderstanding.” Davis spoke to more than 1,000 Cobb County and Marietta high school seniors in a Citizenship Day Program at the Larry Bell Center in a program sponsored by the county’s four Civitan clubs. Davis credited late President Franklin D. Roosevelt with being the man who “woke up and discovered the forgotten man in our nation is the South.”

Mayor-Elect Howard Atherton and members of Marietta’s new city council were reported in the Sunday, Dec. 8, 1963 paper as agreeing to sidetrack the controversial Kennesaw Avenue and Powder Springs Street links in an effort to salvage a proposed multi-lane highway loop around the city. Atherton said he had been informed by state highway officials that the city was on the verge of losing the entire $10 million highway connector program as a result of protests.

Charles E. Scott of Powder Springs, the brave 78-year-old man with a “very strong constitution,” was reported in the Monday, Dec. 9, 1963 paper as leaving Kennestone Hospital after five weeks of hospitalization following the Halloween explosion at Atherton’s Drugstore. Scott was in the front of the building at the time of the blast and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

In the Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1963 paper, it was reported that the news of Studebaker closing down its U.S. Automotive production lines was no disappointment to the Marietta dealership of Burnett-Teague Motors. Officials at the Marietta firm said the demand for the cars had become almost nil and indicated the company had planned to discontinue their sales anyway.

The State Board of Regents were reported in the Thursday, Dec. 12, 1963 paper as having approved another dormitory project at Southern Tech, which is now known as Southern Polytechnic State University and currently slated to be merged with Kennesaw State University. The dormitory, which cost about $1 million dollars, was to house 180 students and the campus dining hall.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that a 37-year-old Mableton man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the March slaying of a female friend who begged him to kill her because she thought that she was dying of AIDS. An autopsy after the woman’s death later showed that she did not have the disease. The charges, originally malice murder and felony murder, were dropped to voluntary manslaughter in return for the man’s guilty plea.

A pedestrian walkway was reported in the Thursday, Dec. 9, 1993 paper as being built across Cobb Parkway (U.S. Hwy. 41) between the Galleria Specialty and Cumberland malls, near to where the new Atlanta Braves stadium is to be built in the county. Cobb Community Improvement District and state Department of Transportation officials pledged up to $750,000 each for a walkway over the busy eight-lane highway. The final cost was expected at about $1.5 million. The walkway came about after a 15-year-old Wheeler High School student was killed while she was trying to cross Cobb Parkway from the Cumberland Mall parking lot with a friend.

Standing before a mock grave in front of his northeast Cobb home, former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox was reported in the Saturday, Dec. 11, 1993 paper as paying his last respects to the nation’s healthcare system. Maddox said lives were threatened if President Bill Clinton pushed his plans for a national healthcare system through Congress. So he dug a grave – which was surrounded by a six-foot fence topped with barbed wire – and lowered a flag-draped casket into it to eulogize the nation’s current healthcare system and alert others to the dangers of the presidential proposal.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a pill in the nose, Kennedy’s magnolia tree, Sara Tokars, the Dobbins crash and the Kennedy Interchange.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Dec. 5, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page was taken up by an ad from Joe M. Austin with a letter to Marietta voters and the Austin Campaign Committee with an ad titled, “Some Important Questions To Ask E.P. Dobbs.” It had been reported the week before that E.P. Dobbs had been unanimously chosen as a candidate for the 1914-1915 Marietta Mayor during a mass meeting at Anderson’s Hall. Below the two ads was a third announcing a mass meeting and barbecue for Austin happening at the Court House.

Also that week it was reported that the 24-year-old man involved in a fatal shooting at an Austell store over a lost pipe, mentioned in The Week of Oct. 3rd column, was declared not guilty by a jury in the Superior Court. The shooting was believed to be in self-defense after the victim drew a pistol on his killer.

50 years ago …

A three-year old girl in Clarkdale, which is now a part of Austell, was reported in the Friday, Nov. 29, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal as trying to take a cold pill through her nose. With the pill lodged in her nostril, the parents called the Powder Springs Fire Department who attempted to remove it with an aspirator. But, the device failed to dislodge it and the girl was taken to Douglasville hospital where it was successfully removed without any harm.

In the Monday, Dec. 2, 1963 paper, Commissioner Herbert McCollum said he might refuse to license liquor stores in Cobb County even if citizens vote the county wet in a proposed referendum. Since the commissioner’s licensing power only covered unincorporated areas, his refusal would not prevent the opening of liquor stores within the individual municipalities.

Officers and personnel at Dobbins Air Force Base were reported in the Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1963 paper as having decided to plant a magnolia tree in the memory of assassinated President John F. Kennedy. The tree was to be planted at the V-intersection that stood four feet inside of the base’s main entrance gate. For more information about President Kennedy's assassination, check out The Kennedy Assassination column.

20 years ago …

In the Monday, Nov. 29, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that a somber group of relatives and friends gathered at Arlington Memorial Cemetery in Sandy Springs to remember the first anniversary of the death of Sara Tokars of east Cobb. The emotional private service was attended by about 60 people, including Mrs. Tokars’ six sisters and many of her neighbors in the Kings Cove subdivision off Woodlawn Drive. Mrs. Tokars’ parents remained in Bradenton, Fla., with her two sons, who were present when their mother was killed on Nov. 29, 1992 by a shotgun blast to the head. Her husband, Fred, and the alleged triggerman were charged with her slaying. Another man had pleaded guilty to his part in the killing and was expected to testify against the others.

The failure of an experimental rudder was reported in the Thursday, Dec. 2, 1993 paper as the cause of the early February 1993 crash of a Lockheed aircraft at Dobbins Air Force Base. The deaths of the seven crew members at the base were mentioned in The 1993 Dobbins Crash column. The fiery crash occurred 26 seconds after the rudder failure caused the aircraft to mistakenly lift off the ground while simulating an engine failure on takeoff. The crewmen aboard the “High Technology Test Bed,” which was described by Lockheed as a flying laboratory, were testing a new fly-by-wire, computer-controlled rudder system. The company had planned to use the rudder system on its C-130J airlifters and modified C-141 StarLifters built at the Marietta plant. The crash led to criticism of – and eventual changes in – safety procedures at the plant.

The $75.7 million Kennedy Interchange, which is near to where the new Atlanta Braves stadium is to be built in Cobb County, was reported in the Friday, Dec. 3, 1993 paper as having cost projections increase by $3.5 million or more due to engineering changes that required additional rights of way. At the time, the Interchange was already the most expensive road project in county history. The new money was planned to buy 30 to 40 additional feet of rights of way on both the eastern and western side of I-75 to accommodate HOV lanes on the extensive ramp system. The former Eastern Airlines reservation center on Akers Mill Road, which was gutted by suspected arson in July 1991, was expected to have to be torn down under the new engineering plan.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a mayoral candidate, subpoenas, a liquor petition, a bomb threat, NAFTA and a cougar.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Nov. 28, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that at a mass meeting held in Anderson’s Hall the night before, E.P. Dobbs was unanimously chosen as a candidate for the 1914-1915 Marietta mayor. A committee of 10, with Dobbs as an ex-officio member, totaling 11, was named to select City Councilmen from each ward to complete the ticket headed by Dobbs.

Also that week was a story stating that “the Journal believes that Cobb County has the best Sheriff in Georgia.” A week before the November term of the Superior Court, Sheriff W.E. Swanson was given 216 subpoenas to bring before the Grand Jury. By Friday of that week, 201 of them had been brought before the Grand Jury, been sworn, and by Saturday morning the Grand Jury found 64 bills of indictment. By Saturday night, 65 of those indicted had been arrested and either made bond or were in the county jail.

50 years ago …

Petitions calling for a referendum to determine if voters favored the sale of liquor in Cobb County was reported in the Friday, Nov. 22, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal as being circulated through the county for several days. State law required that when presented a petition signed by 35 percent of the registered voters, the ordinary must call a countywide referendum on the manufacture, sale and distribution of liquor. Cobb voters rejected a similar move to open the county up to liquor sales in March 1958 by a vote of 10,126 to 7,869. Cobb Ordinary Garvis Sams said he did not know who was behind the petition, but issued a blunt warning that he would not condone monkey business in the gathering of the petition.

A “bomb-call-terrorist” was reported in the Wednesday, Nov. 27, 1963 paper as threatening the Pine Forest Elementary School the day before. The school received the call about 2:15 p.m. Officers rushed to the school to investigate, but found no bomb. Schools all over Marietta had been plagued with threats of bombs since late September and Kennestone Hospital had been threatened in early October.

Also that day, law enforcement officers from all over Cobb County, in a Thanksgiving Day gesture, organized a fund for the family of J.D. Tippit, a Dallas, Texas policeman who was killed by the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Tippit had no life insurance. Officers in the county, touched by the family’s plight, decided to organize the fund for immediate assistance to the family.

20 years ago …

In the Monday, Nov. 22, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that U.S. Rep. George “Buddy” Darden, who had collected $234,128 in political contributions from organized labor during 10 years in Congress, might lose union support because he voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement. Rep. Darden, a Marietta Democrat, was one of six members of the Georgia House delegation to vote for NAFTA. Since state labor unions and peanut farmers were the two most organized opponents of the agreement in Georgia, lawmakers who opposed them stood the most to lose. Herb Mabry, Georgia state AFL-CIO President, said that labor felt particularly betrayed by Darden because he had told union leaders up until two days before the vote that he would oppose the agreement.

The dean of Kennesaw State College’s School of Education was reported in the Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1993 paper as having announced his resignation amid efforts to regain the national accreditation the school lost in October 1993. Dr. John Beineke, who had headed the education department since 1991, would return to the classroom as a professor of history and social studies education. Kennesaw State lost its accreditation after a two-year review by the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) found overcrowded classrooms, too few faculty members and curriculum problems.

The Cobb County woman issued a warning earlier in the month about possessing wild animals without a license was reported in the Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1993 paper as having filed a suit to get back the five-month-old cougar that was seized by state officials. The lawsuit alleged the cougar should be returned because the state law used to seize the animal was too vague and should be declared unconstitutional.

Also that day, it was reported that the state Public Safety Department had to come up with as much as $200,000 from the Georgia General Assembly before it could complete its planned move of the state Patrol’s airplane unit to McCollum Airport in Kennesaw. The plan included adding office space in a 16,250 square foot hanger built for the patrol by the county earlier in 1993 using $268,000 in funds from drug seizures.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

Fifty years ago, Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, the nation was stunned as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated at 1:25 p.m. in a burst of gunfire in downtown Dallas, Texas while riding in an open car through the city’s streets. The shooting occurred as President Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, were riding with Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife, Idanell Brill “Nellie” Connally.

A full story about the anniversary of the tragedy, written by Rachel Gray, can be viewed here. The column below looks at the coverage of events following the tragedy.

Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963

The citizens of Marietta, which were still not fully recovered from the fatal gas explosion at Atherton’s Drug Store on the Marietta Square, were reported as having reacted with stunned grief to the death of President Kennedy the Friday before. Within minutes of the shooting, the Square was almost completely deserted as people huddled in stores and offices around television sets and radios.

A group of people also gathered outside the pressroom doors of the Marietta Daily Journal waiting for the papers to confirm the news.

Another story reported several observations of grief the day of the shooting –

Lockheed workers continued at their jobs, but a noticeably slower pace.

The girls at a junior high school class received the news and sat at their desk crying.

An elderly woman was seen sitting on her front porch swing with a paper in her lap and her face in her hands.

The Community Players held a backstage “buck-up” session the night after the shooting and then performed to a packed house.

A couple sat in an automobile outside a restaurant listening to radio reports of the president’s death with their plates from eatery on the seat between them.

Marietta policemen said they learned of the assassination in an announcement over the police radio network

Smyrna Mayor J.B. Ables, an employee at Lockheed, called the Journal after Kennedy was shot to confirm the shooting and ask about the President’s condition only to later learn of his death in a Lockheed intercom announcement.

The flag over the Cobb-Marietta Library on Atlanta Street was lowered to half mast immediately with others in the city following suit.

After the announcement of Kennedy’s death, the Journal received a telephone report that Vice President Johnson had suffered a heart attack. A check with United Press International in Atlanta dismissed the report.

A special community-wide prayer and worship service to pray for the family of the slain President and for guidance for President Lyndon Johnson was held in the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church. Rev. Lewis Davis, pastor of the Powers Ferry Road Methodist Church and president of the Marietta Ministerial Association, participated with the pastors of First Baptist, First Presbyterian, St. James Episcopal and First Methodist churches. St. Joseph’s Catholic Church held a requiem high mass.

All schools, county and city offices, along with federal government buildings and several businesses were to close on Monday, Nov. 25 in memory of the late President while President Johnson declared it a day of national mourning. Southern Tech, which is now known as Southern Polytechnic State University, and the University Center of Georgia Marietta Center also announced canceled classes.

Over 2,000 extra copies of the MDJ were circulated the evening of the assassination. Circulation showed a record number of 18,538 copies of the paper were distributed.

John Hill, who was the MDJ’s distributor at Lockheed, was the first carrier to hit the streets with the paper. Normally, Hill carried 477 papers daily to the plant. But, that day he came back twice for more and sold about 1,200 paper to employees as they started home.

Monday, Nov. 25, 1963

Work came to a halt at noon at Lockheed as people joined in a memorial service to the late President. In addition to the Marietta plant, the Atlanta, Dawsonville, Clarksburg, W.Va., Charleston, S.C., and Sandusky, Ohio locations also went silent in preparation of the Washington, D.C., memorial. At the Marietta plant, W.A. Pulver, president of Lockheed-Georgia Company, went on the plant-wide public address system to lead the observance.

A flag flying at half staff out of respect was reported stolen from the American Legion Post No. 29 on Gresham Street in Marietta. Commander Doyce Lambert called it “the worst act of vandalism, I have ever encountered” and offered a $50 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.

Another story observed:

A wreath of white flowers was reported hanging near the door of the County Courthouse.

A young man walking nervously across the Square with red eyes, told a Journal reporter that he hadn’t cried since he was a baby.

There was very little automobile traffic on the Square and open parking spaces.

Dobbins Air Force Base was virtually closed. Only about 15 men, security and firemen, were on duty.

Banks were closed at noon. Savings and loan associations were closed all day.

The parking lot at the new Cobb Center, which normally held thousands of cars, only had about 30 in the lot.

At Kennestone Hospital, the glass front doors closed at 11 a.m. Patients, visitors and staff paused for a moment of silent prayer before Rev. Joseph T. Walker, rector of St. James Episcopal Church, read from the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans over the speaker system.

About 1,600 people were also reported as having attended the memorial services at First Baptist Church.

Friday, Nov. 29, 1963

Dobbins Air Force Base commander, Brig. Gen. George H. Wilson announced that a tree would be planted at the base in memory of the President on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m. Participating in the event would be the Marine Air detachment, Air Force reserve units, the Naval Air Station and the Georgia Air National Guard. The tree was to be planted with a plaque unveiled as an expression of the base’s personal sorrow in the passing of the commander-in-chief.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at Georgia Products Day, buying a plane with trading stamps and developments in the Fred Tokars case.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Nov. 14, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that from scores of cities throughout the state reports were coming into the headquarters of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce that the celebration of Georgia Products Day, on Nov. 18, 1913 in Marietta, would be great advertising for the State of Georgia’s resources. Georgia Products Day, endorsed by Gov. John M. Slaton with a proclamation, had become known in every section of the state and almost every progressive town. Throughout the state, nearly 40 organized commercial bodies were working on the event.

Also that week was a story stating that the Marietta Boy Scouts football team won 18 to zero over the Atlanta Boy Scouts team the week before.

50 years ago …

In the Friday, Nov. 8, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal, there was a front page story about Cobb legislators agreeing that they would oppose increasing the state sales tax to four percent. The delegation said it would not favor any tax increase unless mandatory local support to education was made statewide. Legislators also said they would favor a teacher merit pay program.

John LeCroy, Cobb Clerk of Court and member of the advisory board since 1939, announced in the Sunday, Nov. 10, 1963 paper his opposition to the proposed three-man commission drawn up in a bill passed by the 1963 General Assembly that county voters were to vote upon in January 1964. The bill, if approved, would abolish the advisory board which was composed of the commission of roads and revenue, clerk of court and ordinary.

Presbyterian women in Marietta were reported in the Monday, Nov. 11, 1963 paper as taking part in an unusual fund raising drive – collecting trading stamps to buy an airplane. The plane, which cost 5,580,000 stamps, would be used by Dr. James Boyce, a medical missionary in Mexico.

In the Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1963 paper, it was reported that the partially-burned body of a 46-year-old Marietta man was found on the dirt floor in the basement of the old Coca-Cola bottling company plant on Husk Street. At the scene were several hair tonic bottles along with evidence of a fire on an old quilt and parts of card board boxes.

A $2,250,000 bond issue to finance the proposed Cobb County Junior college was reported in the Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1963 paper. The proposal, adopted the day before, called for the Cobb County Board of Education and the City of Marietta to hold referendums on the same day to approve the bonds. A one-half mill tax increase would be required to finance the bond.

20 years ago …

A planned move of the 116th Tactical Fighter Wing from Dobbins Air Reserve Base to Robins Air Force Base near Macon was reported in the Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1993 MDJ as having been put off for at least a year. An amendment by U.S. Rep. George “Buddy” Darden, D-Marietta, forbidding the use of any funds to relocate the Air National Guard wing was included in the final version of the 1994 fiscal defense appropriations bill passed by Congress the day before.

Fred Tokars, a former tax attorney and part-time Atlanta traffic judge, was reported in the Friday, Nov. 12, 1993 paper as being expected to ask Cobb County to pay the legal bill for his death-penalty trial. Jerry Froelich, the lawyer who Tokars paid to represent him on money-laundering charges in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, said that he had not been paid in the Cobb case where his client was facing murder, armed robbery and kidnapping in the November 1993 shotgun slaying of his wife, Sara. Cobb District Attorney Tom Charron scoffed at Froelich’s suggestion that Tokars be declared indigent and told Cobb Superior Court Judge Watson White that he wanted a hearing before a ruling was made.

In the Saturday, Nov. 13, 1993 paper, it was reported that federal officials filed documents saying that Cobb County might have illegally taken evidence from the Tokars home the night his wife, was killed, but Charron said that it would have no effect on his prosecution of Tokars. Federal prosecutor Buddy Parker said he agreed with Froelich that the only evidence Cobb could use in court is evidence found during an initial search of the east Cobb home.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at cattle, cotton, carbon monoxide and a cougar.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Nov. 7, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that locals won several prizes on cattle at the State Fair. Bob Northcutt won seven first places on Dairy Cattle and J.T. Anderson won seven first places on Herefords.

Also that week was a story stating that J.L. Stephens, the cotton census enumerator for Cobb County, reported officially that the cotton ginned in the county as of Oct. 18 was 9,893 bales compared to the 4,588 bales for the same time in 1912. Another cotton record listed was that three bales of cotton were raised by W.H. Collier on one acre of land four miles north of Acworth. On an adjoining farm, W.S. Collier raised five bales on two acres.

Another story that week reported that Polk Street resident W.J. Pearce found a dozen, small, firm, white clear seed peaches growing on three trees in his back yard.

50 years ago …

In the Monday, Nov. 4, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that two Mableton sandwich catering service owners were found dead in their shop from carbon monoxide poisoning. Cobb deputies said fumes from a circulating heater apparently killed the men. The men were working on plumbing in the building and had set up what appeared to be temporary living quarters at the back of the shop.

Also that day, former Mayor George Kreeger scored a political comeback with a 119-vote victory over Fourth Ward City Councilman Harold Smith in Smyrna’s biennial city election. Kreeger, who had the support of Incumbent Mayor J.B. “Jake” Ables, polled 1,046 votes while Smith drew 927.

The Cobb Advisory Board was reported in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1963 paper as having voted to sign a one-year lease with International Business Machines (IBM) for automatic data processing equipment to be used in the transaction of county affairs.

The crash of a single-engine, light plane was reported in the Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1963 paper as having killed a Virginia Beach, Va., man, his wife and their unborn child on Brown Road near Powder Springs. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Agency said the family took off from Fulton County Airport bound for New Orleans in foggy weather with zero visibility.

The Marietta Junior Welfare League was reported in the Thursday, Nov. 7, 1963 paper as having launched a $100,000 fund drive to purchase land and construct a Cobb County Youth Museum. League Publicity Chairman Mrs. Luther Fortson said that members had pledged for than $20,000 and the remaining $80,000 would be sought in public contributions.

20 years ago …

In the Thursday, Nov. 4, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that a Marietta man frustrated with being rejected twice in his attempts to be a police officer, decided to take the law in his own hands. The man, a part-time landscaper, stole a police radar gun, a pair of blue Fulton County Police fatigues and a ticket book from the police car of a Fulton officer who lived in northeast Cobb. The man, clad in a partial uniform, began using the radar gun to stop motorists in Cobb, Cherokee and Fulton counties before being arrested.

A Cobb County woman was reported in the Friday, Nov. 5, 1993 paper as being cited in October for illegally owning a three-month-old cougar – which was classified as an endangered species. The woman, who brought the cougar to Cobb from South Carolina, was believed to have endangered a 15-year-old family friend that was bitten by the animal on Oct. 22.

Forced out by the state Board of Regents, U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich of east Cobb was reported in the Saturday, Nov. 6, 1993 paper as moving his controversial “Renewing American Civilization” course from Kennesaw State College to Reinhardt College, a private institution in Waleska. The House minority whip decided to switch schools after the George Board of Regents said that a full-time public office-holder could not teach in the state university system.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

Fifty years ago, Thursday, Oct. 31, 1963, the City of Marietta suffered one of its greatest tragedies – a gas explosion that ripped through the front portion of the Atherton Drug Store on the Marietta Square, killing seven people and injuring over 20 others. At the time of the explosion, Halloween festivities were in full swing with a Y.M.C.A-sponsored parade and a window painting contest on the Square.

A full story about the anniversary of the 1963 tragedy, written by Rachel Gray, can be viewed here. The column below looks at the day by day coverage of events relating to the tragedy.

Sunday, Nov. 3, 1963

Two men – Charles E. Scott, 78, and J.B. Lamer, 22, - remained in critical condition in Kennestone Hospital.

Marietta Mayor Sam Welsch ordered the flags in the park, City Hall and the Marietta Post Office be flown at half-mast throughout the weekend. A drive-in on the Four Lane (U.S. Hwy. 41) also lowered its flag.

Investigators continued searching for the cause of the blast. Capt. Bartow Adair, head of the Fire Prevention Bureau and Fire Inspector, was quoted as saying that it was a low order explosion, which pushes rather than shatters, and could have occurred from many substances – including natural gas. Adair also said some witnesses had testified that they had smelled gas in and around the building beforehand.

The Marietta Fire Department was also reported looking for the person who answered the phone at the drug store immediately after the blast. Three soda fountain girls were said to have heard the phone ring in the pay booth at the end of the counter just before the explosion.

Gene Nesbitt, the merchandise manager at Atherton’s, had placed the call and said someone answered saying, “We’ve just had an explosion.” Adair said whoever stepped into the booth to answer the phone was in the area of the worst destruction and that Nesbitt’s call had saved their life.

Marietta mayor-elect Howard Atherton Jr. was quoted as saying a new drug store would be built on the explosion site. Atherton said plans called for a one-story brick structure with more floor space than before and office space on a mezzanine. Construction of the new store would begin once the insurance companies could determine the amount of damage to the store and the structure was torn down.

Monday, Nov. 4, 1963

Investigators continued to question witnesses about the explosion. Adair was quoted as saying that nothing new had developed in the case and the cause of the blast was still unknown.

Scott and Lamer were still in critical condition at Kennestone Hospital, while policemen W.R. Raines, Wyndall Black and George Kelly, who were injured in the blast, were listed as in good condition. Capt. H.P. Craft also entered the hospital with a back ailment caused by rescue operations during the disaster.

Sightseers from all over Georgia came by to see the shell of the ruined store. Police said at one time that cars were lined up from the light at the railroad crossing on Powder Springs Street all the way across the Marietta Square.

Special prayers for the dead and injured were offered in all of Marietta’s churches. At St. James Episcopal Church, it was noted that more than 60 people took Holy Communion on Sunday night compared to the usual 25 in attendance.

Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1963

Investigators were drawing closer to the end of their inquiries and said that the possible cause of the blast was natural gas. Tuesday’s operations consisted of boring holes in the sidewalk next to the store, testing cracks in the basement and searching the front of the building for evidence of gas leaks.

Witnesses were still being questioned and the Marietta Fire Department had not yet discovered who answered the phone that rang just before the explosion.

Scott and Lamer remained in critical condition at Kennestone Hospital. Raines, Black and Kelly along with teenager Jimmy Smith were listed as in good condition. The three policemen were talking with Smith at the front of the store at the time of the blast. Another injured man, Fred Grant was transferred to Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta.

Howard Atherton Jr. was quoted as saying that the business office of the drug store would be set up in the old Western Union office on Powder Springs Street next to the First National Bank.

Approximately 3,000 long distance calls were handled by Southern Bell Telephone Company during the “peak” hours of the tragedy. The phone company also took 1,400 calls for information and 600 “assistance” calls. District Manager J.E. Breedlove said the total 3,000 calls did not include local calls, which were not counted due to the automated system. But, Breedlove said it was triple the number of calls they ordinarily carried between 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Normally, 15-20 women manned the switchboards during those hours, but that night 60 operators were on duty. Breedlove said that he didn’t have to call a single person in because they all heard about the blast and started streaming into the office on their own.

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1963

A 30-foot length of gas line along the front of the store had been exposed and an inch-by-inch examination of the line was being made. Marietta Fire Chief Howard Schaffer said they uncovered several lateral holes running from the line to the basement wall of the building, made by old roots, which could have made it possible for gas to penetrate a point near the building.

Scott and Lamer continued to remain in critical condition at Kennestone.

Thursday, Nov. 7, 1963

Scott and Lamer showed slight improvement and all of the other injured were listed in good condition, according to a hospital spokesman.

High winds caused concern at the blast site because the wide open front allowed the wind to sweep inward and put pressure on the weakened walls. Despite the hazard, investigators spooned out particles of roots believed to have caused the leakage in the gas pipe. Also found was what resembled a large railroad tie with an old, square, rusted iron nail in it. Samples of wood and dirt were taken for laboratory testing.

Friday, Nov. 8, 1963

Scott and Lamer continued to remain in critical condition at the hospital.

Gas mains around the drug store were sealed off to further test the cause of the explosion. Valves were installed and gas pressure was taken off the lines around the wrecked building. Temporary service lines were run to the buildings around the drug store location.

Schaffer said excavation was discontinued because the vibrations caused by the air hammers used to tear up the sidewalks threatened to collapse the weakened store walls. Further excavation would continue after merchandise and fixtures were taken from the building and a wrecking crew demolished the walls.

Dr. Howard Jones, head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation team, sent an official letter of commendation to Mayor Welsch praising Schaffer and his staff, the city police, City Engineer C.C. Davis and his staff, the Marietta Civil Defense workers, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, Dr. Webster A. Sherrer – the state medical examiner for Cobb County, and Atlanta Gas Light Company for their help in the investigation.

Sunday, Nov. 10, 1963

Schaffer confirmed discovery of a gas leak in the main running in front of the ruins of the drug store. In a preliminary report to the City Council, he said the leak was caused by “corrosive action” which permitted gas to escape at a rate of 10 cubic feet every 79 seconds. Schaffer also said that the investigation had revealed “spots as big as half-dollars, quarters and dimes showing corrosive action” in addition to the point of the leak.

Scott remained in critical condition at Kennestone. Lamer, however, was downgraded to fair condition. Smith was scheduled to have his leg amputated by surgeons.

Monday, Nov. 11, 1963

Scott remained in critical condition for the 12th day, while Lamer was listed in satisfactory condition.

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1963

Tentative plans called for the wrecking operation of the shell of the drug store. Davis said that the building would probably be dismantled instead of pulled down, which would take about three weeks.

Scott, who had been critical for two weeks, improved enough for the hospital to list him as in fair condition.

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1963

A contract with the Continental Wrecking Corporation of Atlanta was signed to dismantle the drug store at a cost of about $6,000. R.H. Isley, superintendent of the wrecking company crew, said it would take three to four weeks to complete.

G.B. Lee, the office supervisor of the Marietta branch of the Atlanta Gas Light Company, said the company had begun its annual check of pipes in Marietta and the Cobb County area. The survey was expected to take two to three weeks to complete.

Scott slipped back onto the critical list, but Lamer, Smith, Raines and Black were all listed in good condition at the hospital.

Thursday, Nov. 14, 1963

Raines was released from the hospital, while Scott remained in critical condition after only one day off the list since the explosion.

The “mystery phone call answerer” still had not been found and the investigation now indicated that both the phones of the prescription side and in the pay booth had rung and were answered.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a pony contest, poisoned dogs, tax collections, a new courthouse and a television pilot.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Oct. 31, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported a contest amongst Marietta merchants through Jan. 28, 1914 to give away a Shetland Pony. The contest, sponsored by the Marietta Journal, The Gem and Princess Theatres, W.A. Florence, Myrtice Allgood, Z.T. Gann and T.W. Read, would allow children under 16 to receive a vote coupon with every purchase or payment on an account. At the end of the contest, the child with the largest number of votes would win the pony.

50 years ago …

The Sheriff’s Office reported in the Friday, Oct. 25, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal that they had received several calls of dogs being poisoned with tainted meat thrown or placed within yards in the LaBelle Park, Jones-Shaw Road area.

A mother and her infant son were reported hospitalized in the Sunday, Oct. 27, 1963 paper after suffering burns in a string of blasts that shook their Fair Oaks home the Friday before. Fire department officials and police believed the explosions were caused by a broken gas line after a newly installed sewer pipe was put in with a ditch digging machine.

In the Monday, Oct. 28, 1963 paper, it was reported that a 19-year-old black burglary suspect was shot twice by an officer inside the Cherokee Grocery on Cherokee Street. The shots hit the man under the right eye and in the back, but he was listed at Kennestone Hospital as in good condition. The patrolling officers had found the door to the grocery partly opened and entered the store. As they were about to leave, the suspect stood up from behind a counter and pointed a pistol at them, which lead to a gunfire exchange.

The Cobb Tax Commissioner was reported in the Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1963 paper as having 30 working days to collect over $5 million. At that rate, the office would have to collect $185,000 each day. All county taxes were to be paid by Dec. 20, 1963, but due to a tax equalization program and a court injunction against the tax process, collections were delayed until Thursday, Oct. 24. Since collections began, the tax office had only taken in $28,000.

A writ of mandamus seeking to force the county to construct a new courthouse was reported in the Thursday, Oct. 31, 1963 paper as having been dismissed by Cobb Superior Court Judge James Manning. County Attorney Raymond Reed, in presenting a general demurrer for dismissal, argued that the question was not for the court to decide. He also pointed out that the county had vetoed the courthouse bond issue three times. He also said that county officials would have to raise the tax millage to meet the cost of a new courthouse building and that the tax hike was so high that the county decided it was out of the question.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that four Cherokee County volunteer firefighters were facing charges of arson. The suspects were arrested and charged in three fires that occurred over the past two months involving an abandoned home and two vacant lots. Two of the firefighters confessed to setting the blazes. The case unraveled as fire officials began to piece together a string of suspicious fires in the North Canton district with one common thread – the same responding firefighters.

Cobb commissioners were reported in the Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1993 paper as having unanimously approved preliminary designs for an $8.1 million State Court Building that would help alleviate the overcrowding in Cobb’s judicial complex. The new 95,000-square foot building was to be located between the county’s two administrative buildings just east of the Marietta Square. The design was similar to existing judicial buildings with pedestrian plazas and walkways.

Just like recent filming on the Marietta Square, the Marietta City Council was reported in the Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1993 paper as having approved a pilot television episode to be filmed in a city neighborhood. ABC television had chosen Arden Drive in Ward 2 for “The Mommy Track,” a talk-show look at successful women with children. The episode was one of five segments of ABC’s upcoming pilot series, “American Streets,” which would examine aspects of American life from neighborhood settings around the country.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at the death of Maj. Hiram Butler, Marietta Schools’ payroll, Kennesaw State College losing accreditation and theft of parts from the Big Chicken.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Oct. 24, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported the death of Maj. Hiram A. Butler, 81, of Kennesaw, who had been employed by the Western and Atlantic Railroad for nearly 60 years. Maj. Butler started his career as a water boy for the Noonday Fill near Marietta and later served as Roadmaster for nearly 50 years. When Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman approached Kennesaw, Maj. Butler and Martin H. Dooly were reported as having made up the last train composed of rolling stock. The pair had hoped to save the contents from Federal destruction by running the train to South Georgia, but Stoneman’s Raiders destroyed the property at Griswoldville on the Central Road.

50 years ago …

Six people were reported injured, one critically, in the Friday, Oct. 18, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal as a fire swept through a frame house in Mableton. The family was asleep at the time of the fire. The homeowner, who awoke to discover the flames, pulled his grandchildren, son and a dog from the building before collapsing. His wife escaped the blaze by jumping out of their bedroom window. All three of the man’s grandchildren along with his son were taken to Kennestone Hospital with burns. A fireman with the responding South Cobb Fire Department also received an eye injury while fighting the fire.

In the Sunday, Oct. 20, 1963 paper, it was reported that Marietta Schools Superintendent Henry Kemp said the Board of Education did not have the money to meet its October payroll and called for a special session of the Marietta City Council to deal with the crisis. Later in the week, on Thursday, Oct. 24, it was reported that the Council voted in emergency session to borrow $50,000 for appropriation to the Board of Education. The action, taken at the request of Marietta Mayor Sam Welsch, temporarily eased a critical financial problem brought on by the failure of Congress to renew legislation authorizing federal aid to impacted areas.

In the Tuesday, Oct. 22, 1963 paper, it was reported that plans were being developed and construction was scheduled to begin on a luxury theatre in the new Cobb County Center. The theatre, operated by the Georgia Theatre Company, was to have a seating capacity for approximately 1,000 with rocking chair seats featuring upholstered arm rests that would be installed on a staggered floor plan. The Cobb Center Theatre was the fourth indoor-type motion picture house in operation in the county and was expected to be the largest.

Also that day, it was reported that Dr. W.C. Mitchell, chairman of the Cobb Board of Education, watched as construction crews broke ground on a new elementary school in Smyrna. The school, which was being erected at the end of Ward Street behind the Belmont Hills Shopping Center, was to house 1,200 students and would have 38 classrooms.

20 years ago …

Kennesaw State College’s (KSC) teacher education program was reported in the Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1993 paper as having lost its national accreditation following a two-year review that found overcrowded classrooms, too few faculty members and curriculum problems. The more than 2,300 students enrolled in teacher education courses at KSC were expected to be eligible to receive state teacher certificates by passing an exam upon completion of their courses of study. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission had given the college permission to continue to operate its teacher education programs through June 30, 1995, which was enough time for the college to reapply for national accreditation.

In the Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1993 paper, it was reported that Kentucky Fried Chicken was willing to forgive “fowl” play in the disappearance of some sections of the Big Chicken after thieves allegedly stole parts from the site. Ten days earlier, a construction crew working on the demolition of the Big Chicken reported that someone had stolen the black eyes and part of the yellow break from the metal bird. After hearing a radio report of the theft, a passerby who took the eyes as a souvenir from the 54-foot Marietta landmark contacted Marietta Police to return them. The bird’s bulky upper beak, which weighed more than 500 pounds, was reported as being found on Thursday, Oct. 21. A female caller reported to police that the beak had been dumped at the Rhodes Furniture store at U.S. 41 and Gresham Road. Demolition of the Big Chicken began after storm damage to the structure revealed that decades of bird droppings inside had corroded the landmark’s metal skeleton.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at cotton, integration, a plane crash, a Ten Commandments lawsuit and the fate of Newt Gingrich’s conservative college course.

100 years ago …

In Friday, Oct. 17, 1913 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, it was reported that at an average of 13 cents a pound, with $8 to $10 a bale for cotton seed, Cobb County farmers were expecting about $75 per bale. With about 22,000 bales of cotton within the county, the price of local crop was expected to be $1,650,000. Marietta was also declared in the story as being the best cotton market in the state with buyers paying the highest price the market could afford.

50 years ago …

A delegation of white citizens were reported in the Friday, Oct. 11, 1963 Marietta Daily Journal as having called on the Marietta Board of Education to resist integration with every possible legal means. The group identifying themselves as Citizens for Better Government Inc. presented petitions opposing integration signed by an estimated 1,000 Cobb citizens.

Another story that day reported that 52 of the 100 new low-rent public housing units for blacks in the Louisville Urban Renewal project had been filled and the remaining 48 were ready for occupation. The $1,187,000 project was designed to provide suitable housing for low-income families.

In the Sunday, Oct. 13, 1963 paper, it was reported that Marietta City Council had voted to settle a condemnation suit out of court so that work could begin turning Roswell Street into four lanes east of the Four-Lane Highway (U.S. Hwy. 41). The action was expected to cost the city $700 for purchase of the right of way and another $208 for removal of two utility poles located on the land.

Two Georgia men, one from Smyrna, were reported in the Monday, Oct. 14, 1963 paper as being injured after their light plane crashed through power lines and bounced into the side of a farmhouse near Town Creek, Ala. at 3:55 a.m. that day.

The first Marietta-built long-range C-130E global airlifter to join a Navy Squadron of Military Air Transport Service (MATS) was reported in the Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1963 paper. A total of 22 of the 77½-ton Lockheed Georgia transports were to be assigned to the Naval Air Transport Wing, Pacific.

Another story that day reported that burglars backed a small truck up to an unoccupied home in Smyrna and emptied out all of its furnishings. The items taken included a double oven, a surface unit and hood set, a dishwasher, a combination refrigerator and freezer unit, rugs and draperies, wall light fixtures, a fire place set and even the bathroom scales.

In the Thursday, Oct. 17, 1963 paper, it was reported that Scripto Inc., manufacturer of ballpoint pens, pencils and cigarette lighters, was moving from Atlanta to Cobb County as soon as its “dream plant” was completed. Cobb native James V. Carmichael, president of Scripto, made the announcement at the first annual Red Carpet Dinner of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and said Scripto would build a six-acre, one-story plant on 27 acres of land at Church Road and old U.S. 41.

Also that day it was reported that a pre-dawn blaze gutted the interior and extensively damaged the roof of the Big Shanty Restaurant on the North Four Lane in Kennesaw.

20 years ago …

In the Monday, Oct. 11, 1993 MDJ, it was reported that the Anti-Defamation League of B’nal B’rith had added ammunition to the federal court battle over whether a Ten Commandments plaque should be removed from the Cobb State Court building by filing arguments in favor of the removal. Cobb was fighting to keep the document on the lobby wall of the State Court’s first floor.

As U.S. troops were set to arrive in Haiti to help restore democracy, U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Perry, was quoted in the Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1993 paper as saying that the United States must “avoid being spread too thin throughout the world.” Sen. Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also said at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s First Monday Breakfast that the collapse of communism and an end to the Cold War had contributed to the resurfacing of “repressed ethnic and religious warfare” and a variety of other conflicts around the world.

Also that day, Vinings-based Home Depot confirmed that it was looking for a site to build a corporate headquarters in the metro Atlanta area, but said its search had nothing to do with the Cobb County Commission’s anti-gay resolution.

In the Thursday, Oct. 14, 1993 paper, it was reported that the conservative “Renewing American Society” course at Kennesaw State College taught by U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-east Cobb, might be shut down after its maiden run. The Georgia Board of Regents unanimously adopted a policy that prohibited elected officials from teaching at state colleges and universities.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

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